We are confident of our depth in bowling and batting: Tom Moody

Chennai, April 10: Ahead of their opening IPL clash against two-time champions Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody today exuded confidence over his team's strong depth in bowling and batting.

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Moody said he is ready to put up a strong combination in their playing XI tomorrow and reckoned that anything around 160 will be a good score on the Chepauk wicket here.

"We believe our batting is as strong as our bowling. Obviously we are confident about depth of our bowling and batting," said Moody.

"I don't have the crystal ball. Anything around 160 is a good score. The wicket looks good. Same as the one used for the first match. And it produced good cricket last night. I am looking forward to playing on it," he said.

Their star batsman Kevin Pietersen is not here but Moody said they have a strong line-up with six top players to do the job tomorrow.

"Yes we don't have Kevin Pietersen here. But we have got Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Ravi Bopara and Moises Henriques. So those players along with talented KL Rahul and Naman Ojha to me forms a strong top six," he said.

On K L Rahul, the coach said, "I have no doubt that Rahul will adapt to T20. He is a class act. He is technically sound and good stroke maker."

As for spinners in his team, Moody said: "In the last two IPL, Karn Sharma has bowled really well and we have got Pervez Rasool as well. I don't expect anything different going into the new season.

"Karn is a very good bowler and has gained some valuable experience having represented India in the last 12 months. I am sure he will look forward to bowling here." The 29-year-old Moody also spoke highly about spin bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Murali not only presents himself as a terrific spin bowling specialist. When you have played Test cricket, that he has played, he brings more than just spin bowling.

He is a highly respected individual. He has got huge amount of knowledge about IPL cricket. His experience is invaluable."

'To have depth is very important'

Moody said he expects consistency from his players.

"You expect consistency from all the players, not just your overseas. Otherwise you don't find yourself in the top four. We paid the price for that last year. We just fell out of the top four last year. But to be fair we didn't have consistent performance from our players to really warrant us to be in the top four," he said.

Talking about the Indian new ball bowlers, the Australian coach said: "Ishant didn't play World Cup and Bhuvneshwar Kumar played just one match.

Both are fine bowlers. Bhuvi was our best bowler last year. I hope he repeats the performance. He is highly skilled bowler. "We had two practice matches and both of them (Ishant, Bhuvi) played and both showed no signs of rustiness. No fitness issues. Both are raring to go."

Moody also said that Praveen Kumar would back up for Bhuvneshwar.

"Absolutely, if we want to go in with the combination of playing all out foreign batsmen, we will surely go with all Indian bowlers. We are lucky to have that quality in our team," he said.

"One of the reasons for getting Praveen was that we were a little bit concerned about the injuries of Ishant and Bhuvi. But the other reason was that we recognized the tournament was long and hard.

To have that depth is very important. And we have got huge amount of hope that Praveen can deliver for us," Moody added.

PTI